Perceived Ethnic Discrimination in Relation to Daily Moods and Negative Social Interactions (2006)
Researchers tested their hypothesis that one’s “exposure to perceived racism would produce changes in perception about the self and others that would generalize across situation and individuals.” In other words, experiencing discrimination could determine how you view yourself and others. To measure the effects of ethnic discrimination, patients and employees of three community-oriented primary care practices (N = 120) were solicited to participate. One hundred thirteen participants completed the requisite components of the study—demographic questionnaire, perceived ethnic discrimination survey, personality trait scales, and an interactive diary that monitored the participants’ daily moods and social interactions. Every 30 minutes the diaries’ timers beeped; this reminded participants to fill out a page. The diary asked them to write about the emotions that they were feeling and the social interactions being realized at that time.
Men reported unfair treatment during social interactions with significantly more frequency than did women. U.S.-born participants were more likely to report exposure to racism than their foreign-born counterparts (n = 30). Persons born in the US also reported significantly higher levels of anger in their daily interactions. Blacks (n = 49) and Latinos (n = 43) reported more racism than Whites (n = 14), though this finding was not statistically significant. Analyses showed a significant relationship between previous experiences with ethnic discrimination and the likelihood of participants to rate their daily moods as angry, sad, or nervous. There was also statistical significance between ethnic discrimination and a negative perception of one’s own social interactions. The researchers controlled for the possible effects of personality traits such as cynicism, hostility, anxiety and defensiveness, and still found significance in the relationship between discrimination and daily ratings of anger, as well as perceptions of harassing and exclusionary treatment.
Relevance to the documentary: To some, these findings may seem obvious, i.e., if someone experiences any discrimination or judges social interactions as negative, of course that he/she will be in a bad mood. Right? Well, sure. But these data also tell us that if people experience enough discrimination in their lives, they are likely to have a negative mood when they engage in future social interactions. In other words, people come to expect discrimination and therefore act accordingly. This reminds me that no matter how much society changes or thinks that it changes, with respect to the treatment of its minorities, the past still hangs over the future.
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